Prey For Maria

“Hello everyone and welcome back to The Hard Place. It seems like the magazine is growing in leaps and bounds, and right now I'd like to take a moment to welcome all of our new readers in the Louisville area into the ME fold. Louisville has many great hard rock and metal bands and I can't wait to let the rest of the state in on all the talent slugging it out in the 502 scene. So, with that in mind, I am bringing you my first Louisville band of the year - Prey For Maria. These guys have only been around for a little while, but already sound like they've been together forever. They are in the process of recording their latest release "No More Drama", so I shuffled on over to Facebook once again and snagged a couple of choice tracks for this months' column. The first song I checked out was called "It Could Have Happened". The first thing I noticed was how "professional" they sounded. I know that may sound strange to some of you, but many local bands' CDs just sound like local bands' CDs, ya know? This one had that professional "gloss" to it that everyone is used to hearing when they turn on the radio. It fades in on a distorted guitar chord before the band kicks in with some nice, tight guitar and drum unison stabs. From there the song really takes shape with some big, full sounding distorted guitar tones with a keyboard riff riding on top giving us the opening melody. The guitars and drums fall into a quick syncopated riff before the first verse begins where we find the guitars keeping the muted staccato riff going while the keys provide us with a nice airy backdrop for the vocals. The unison stabs come back in for the intro to the chorus which uses the same riff as the intro. The syncopated section works well with the vocals here and it gives the song a real "push/pull" effect. The keys on this one seems to give a little nod to an 80's mentality, but on top of the very modern rock guitar sounds, work well to convey the overall mood of the song. After another verse and chorus, there is a short solo section where the guitar and keys both follow the chorus melody. From here the band doubles up on the unison stabs before rolling through another chorus for the end. This is a very well put together song and I found myself listening to it over and over as I wrote this review. The next song was called "Wake Up". It begins with what sounds like the keys playing an acoustic guitar sound, but it could be doubled with an actual acoustic. It brings to mind the power ballad sound of the 80's and is a nice sound none-the-less. The comparison ends there as the band comes slamming in with some big, sustained power chords before breaking into a very upbeat, hard rockin' riff that continues in a more muted form for the first verse with the keyboards playing accented notes that work well behind the vocals. The drums do a good job of keeping the section fresh sounding with some very energetic kick and snare work. No double kicks or anything, but still pretty driving. The power chords return for the chorus and the vocal melody is very catchy and radio ready for sure. The second verse finds a different muted guitar riff taking over and is a nice change instead of just playing the same riff as the first verse. From here we go into another chorus and somewhat of a lead section. I say "somewhat" because it's not really a lead as much as an interlude between the second and third choruses. The song ends with a recap of the secondary intro riff I mentioned before slamming to a stop. Even though they are a young and relatively new band in the area, Prey For Maria have the chops and the talent to go far outside the local area. Their songs are very well written and the vocal melodies sound thought out and serve to further the mass accessibility that is needed to achieve that all important radio play that'll take them to the next level. Being a hard rock band with a female vocalist, you can't help but make comparisons to bands like Evanescence, but Prey For Maria are more than a copycat band. True, they combine similar pumped up metal riffs with melodic female vocals, but they do it in their own way, just as every 'groove metal' band doesn't sound like Pantera.” “All in all, I really dig their sound and I am glad to have "discovered" them for myself. To check out Prey For Maria for yourself you can hit 'em up at http://myspace.com/preyformaria to hear the afore mentioned songs as well as a couple more tracks that rock just as hard. While you're there you can see where they'll be playing live and let 'em know that you heard about them in ME!” - Music Entertainment Magazine

“I just got to see Leitchfield Kentucky's Prey For Maria again recently and they sound really good. They're very nice people and as appreciative musicians as you can find. They have come into their own and are sounding better than ever, maybe taking the place formerly held by the band Never The Man for top female-fronted band. Jessica Clemons' vocals were very powerful and focused the night I saw them. The only thing they need to work on is publicity.. If you like Lacuna coil and Flyleaf, do yourself a favor and listen to Prey For Maria. ” - Louisville Music News